French Flanders and Artois Battlefields of WW1, France

Looking north-east across the Lens-Douai plain of Artois from the high ground of the Vimy Ridge and the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.

The 1914-1918 battlefields of French Flanders are located in an area of northern France historically
called the Province of Flanders and the County of Artois. Nowadays these two
provinces are situated in the northernmost region of France, namely Nord-Pas-de-Calais. This region
shares its northern border with Flemish Flanders in Belgium. Towns and villages in the area which feature in
the battlefields of 1914-1918 are Armentières, Arras, Bailleul, Béthune, Bullecourt,
Festubert, Fromelles, Hazebrouck, Loos-en-Gohelle, Monchy-le-Preux and St. Omer. The city of Lille is
the administrative capital of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. During the First World War Lille was a busy centre of
commerce and was occupied by the German Army for exactly four years from October 1914 to October 1918.

Looking towards the “man-made mountain” of the slag-heap at Mazingarbe when
standing on the old 1915 German Front Line at Grenay south of Loos-en-Gohelle.

The western part of the region is rural and generally low-lying, with fertile fields criss-crossed by streams and ditches.
The eastern part of the region is industrial. During the 19th century this area developed quickly into one
of the leading industrial centres of France, producing almost all of the coal used in France by 1914. The
landscape rising in gentle spurs and ridges towards the area of Arras underwent a transformation
in the early part of the twentieth century with the appearance of numerous “man-made mountains” of
spoil near the many pit-heads.

Visitors to the battlefields of French Flanders and Artois will find several small museums, mostly privately
owned, monuments and over 350 cemeteries for the thousands of Allied and German casualties who died. This
region was the most badly damaged by the four years of warfare of all the areas in France on the
Western Front.

Local Events

Commemorative events are held on the battlefields of French Flanders according to an annual or special
anniversary of a battle. At times there are private ceremonies and Remembrance events in relation to a
particular monument or memorial.

Battles of French Flanders and Artois

View looking south-east towards Arras on the skyline from the high ground of Notre Dame de Lorette. This ridge was held by the French in 1915 until they pushed the Germans off it and further east to establish the line on the Vimy Ridge. The white building is Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery.

Fighting arrived in the region of French Flanders and Artois within a few weeks of the outbreak of the
First World War. From late September 1914, as the German Armies and Allied French and British Armies
attempted to outflank one another during the series of battles known as “The Race to the Sea”,
the line of the Western Front was established here.

Towns & Villages

Arras

City of Arras.

Arras was in the Allied-held territory throughout the war, apart from when the German Army entered the city on
29th September 1914 and left again the following day, never to retake it. Civilians and
soldiers lived underground in the ancient chalk tunnels under the city throughout the war. By the end
of the war the medieval buildings of Arras had been almost completely destroyed by German artillery
shellfire, suffering the same fate as the shattered town of Ypres in Belgium.

Arras is the capital of the modern-day Department of Pas-de-Calais. Much of the centre of the city was
rebuilt in the medieval style. It is a busy commercial and cultural centre in the region, offering visitors
a variety of accommodation, restaurants and museums.

Cemeteries

Ablain St-Nazaire French Military Cemetery “Notre Dame de Lorette”.

The battlefield area of French Flanders contains the resting place of many thousands of Allied and
Imperial German troops. The military cemeteries for the British and Commonwealth casualties number over
300 and range in size from small battlefield cemeteries to larger concentration or collecting cemeteries created after the First World War. This area includes several French military
cemeteries, one of which is the largest French military
cemetery in the world at Ablain St. Nazaire (Notre Dame de Lorette). The largest German military cemetery for First World War casualties in France called
Neuville-Saint-Vaast “Maison Blanche” contains the remains of 44,833 German soldiers.

Monuments and Memorials

The twin pylons of the Canadian national memorial at Vimy Ridge, commemorating 60,000 Canadian
servicemen who fell in France during the First World War, and which commemorates the names of over 11,000
of them who have no known grave.

In addition to numerous memorials to individual military units, this battlefield area has several
national memorials dedicated to thousands of servicemen who died in this area and who have no known
grave.